Connected
by mysistersaship
Summary: Mal is hurt during a job gone wrong, and they're not sure he'll survive


Title: Connected  
Word Count: 907  
Author: thefalloficarus Disclaimer:I don't own any of these characters; I just like to play with them. Joss is Boss though, and don't you forget it! ;)  
Rating: G  
Pairing: Mal/River  
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-BDM. There's a spoiler don't read if you haven't seen  
Summary: Mal is injured when a job goes wrong.

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River sat, watching Mal as her life force seeped slowly out of her into him, filling him up with herself. It was another job gone wrong, bullet to the chestplate: better than the brainpan. Simon had pushed and pulled, stitching and mending with the grace of a dancer. It had been a long operation, repairing and patching, as the crew

waited fretfully, their brows all knit together, different threads intertwining to create a blanket of worry and hope to cover their Captain and keep him warm.

Wash, Mal's previous donor, had been gone for almost a year and at first they feared there was no hope, that even if Simon could rebuild the broken bones and filling lung, there would be nothing left to pump and pulse and Mal would die from simply running empty. He had bled and spilled, seeping over the floors, giving Serenity that much more blood and breath, cleansing her with his sacrifice, pronouncing his love in each little red rivulet that dripped and spilled, filling every crack and crease. River had held onto

Serenity, grasping her controls, feeling the ship's pain and sorrow as her love slipped away through her, flying Serenity up and away from the treacherous fiends that tried to rob her of her most precious cargo.

When she sensed that Simon was nearing the end, she peeked her head around the door into the infirmary, watching him concentrate, watching him dance, and she softly said that she was a match and that when he was ready, so was she. Now she sat and she waited, hoping and praying, to the steady beep of his weakly pounding heart.

Simon sighed, and he paced the floor, and finally broke and stepped out the door, needing water, or maybe whiskey, something, anything to steel his nerves. He'd done his dance, and done it well, but the Captain was the heart and soul of this ship, and he'd held that

heart in his hands, and now he hoped that he'd been careful enough not to break it. River knew this, felt it in her very core, and she nodded to Zoë, to follow her brother, to steady him now, when she herself was unable to. "I'm here with him." She said reassuringly. "I'll call if anything happens." And with a curt nod, Zoë headed out the door.

Alone at last River leaned forward resting her head against the Captain's bruised and bandaged side, placing a hand on his arm, feeling her warm flesh touch his cold skin. "You gave us quite a scare." She said, tracing small circles up and down his arm, feeling

the slight jump of the veins underneath. "Simon patched you up, fixed you. Simon fixes everyone." She said, looking up at him from her downward position. "So it'll be mighty rude if you don't wake up." She said, casually her tone almost scolding, as if he were a

child who was doing something naughty.

"I feel you there, waiting inside, ready to burst, to supernova and be beautiful bits scattered in the stars. You long to go home, we all do, but now's not time." She said firmly, the emotions in her body finally beginning to bubble up and out spilling through her lips like water through a leaky dam. "You belong here, healed and whole." She said, unable to stare at his broken body anymore, turning down and looking at the needle in her vein, offering life to Mal, if he'd only just grab it. "Beside, you're part me now. I gave

you my blood, and that means I have a say. You're partly mine, and I'm part yours, and that means you need to keep breathing, and open your eyes." She said, finally shaking apart, loosing her resolve and she bent her head, and hung it low as she shattered and broke, and her sorrow and fear spilled through, trailing down her cheeks in

white hot tears.

She shook silently, sadly, not knowing what else to do, when she felt fingers in her hair, slipping, sliding through and a cool hand on her cheek. "We don't cry now, ya hear?" She heard, whispered and weak, and she looked up and met his eyes, open and awake, unfocused and tired, but alive and well. A smile broke through her tears, and she touched his hand, holding it to her, feelingly the electricity from the one simple touch. Mal offered a weak smile, still sore and sleepy, and he rested his limbs, pulling her hand down with him and he drifted back towards sleep. "See that's better," he whispered. "Can't have anyone thinking part of me's not tough and manly, even if it is my feminine side." And with a squeeze of his hand, and a low rumbled chuckle that caused him to grimace, he

stilled once more.

"No more tears." River whispered, leaning forward and kissing his hand, softly, and lightly, she passed her relief to him with that one simple touch. "Sleep well Captain." She added, stroking his hair, watching him slip back into sleep. "I'll be right here when

you wake."

He stirred once more, shifting his head on the infirmary's pillow, and without opening his eyes, he smiled softly, and whispered once more before sleep took him, "You'd better be: You're part of me," He said lifting his arm that seeped in her blood like a lifeline. "From

now on, you and me, we're connected."


End file.
